Six days before the start of the Tri-Nations and less than two months before their opening match in the World Cup, Australia were on Monday trying to make the best of the embarrassment of losing at home to Samoa, or at the very least trying to place it among their biggest humiliations.

Most thought that losing to Tonga in Brisbane in 1973 and Scotland at Murrayfield two years ago remained greater indignities but only because the Wallabies were at full strength on those occasions, whereas Sunday's shambles in Sydney came from a side short of half-backs Quade Cooper and Will Genia, full-back Kurtley Beale, utility back James O'Connor, lock James Horwill and flanker David Pocock but heavy on experimental selections who served only to inspire the Samoans.

Add a lack of respect for a side who have a history of dishing out embarrassments, as well as hard tackles, and there were times at the ANZ Stadium when the Wallabies looked leaderless and less-than-enthusiastic about taking more punishment.

Needless to say, the Australian press and former players have been less than happy, with one of the more considered writers, Greg Growden in the Sydney Morning Herald, saying: "Yesterday's shambolic loss is right up there in the Australian rugby embarrassment stakes, and numerous identities – on and off the field – deserve a good kick up the backside...

"Just a week ago, Australian rugby was on an enormous high following the Queensland Reds winning the Super Rugby final. Now those supposed stars have discovered they are the headline actors in the latest Hollywood sequel – The Hangover Part III – after allowing Samoa to enjoy a victory that they will rank as important as their defeat of Wales in Cardiff during the 1991 World Cup. And good on Samoa, they completely deserved this triumph – annihilating the Wallabies in virtually every facet of the game, particularly in the physical battle where they repeatedly smashed their better-known rivals."

According to Samoa's former Wasps forward, Dan Leo, lack of respect added to his side's fire. "There was probably a bit of underestimation on the Wallabies' part. We fed off the fact that they were using it as a trial match for a few guys they hadn't seen; we were quite offended by that," said Leo, a former Queensland Red, who understands what this first defeat by Samoa will do to Australia

"We used that ... everyone came out firing. Pacific Island teams have always had great success coming in as underdogs, we thrive on that. We were allowed to play the sort of game we wanted to play, coming off the line and connecting with a few hits – we could see they were rattled.

"We're confidence players and once the guys could see the momentum in our favour there were guys putting on hits that don't usually put on big hits like that. You grow two feet for your team-mates. It was infectious and spread through the team."

As for Robbie Deans, the coach who is expecting to sign a contract extension next week, he put defeat down to individual performances rather than selection. However, you can bet on considerable changes for this weekend's Tri-Nations opener against South Africa.

"We're damned if we did and damned if we didn't," said Deans when asked why he did not play his best side. "We've got a whole campaign to run and a six-day turnaround before playing South Africa in our first Tri-Nations outing. The Reds players didn't join us until late Monday and clearly needed a break. They'd come off a huge Super Rugby campaign and hadn't trained with us.

"Sure, we could have thrown them out there but the outcome may not have been much different and we would have been doubly worse off. We've been able to give some of those blokes time to recover, recuperate and to look forward."

The humbling of the Wallabies will not have gone unnoticed in Wales. Warren Gatland's side start their World Cup against South Africa, play Samoa next up and round off the pool stage against Fiji.

Samoan rugby has been building again recently and during last year's European tour they lost narrowly to Ireland (10-20), England (13-23) and then Scotland (16-19) – a defeat that left several players in tears. However, little compares with beating Australia and they will be full of confidence come September and New Zealand.

They are even getting used to playing on Sundays. "We are a very religious side," Leo said. "We had our prayers before the game, a half-hour church service. And then after the game we prayed. We're still very mindful of giving that respect for Sunday. This is a way to serve God, to use our talents."